


Through the Wardrobe

by owlways_and_forever



Series: When Eagles Fall Silent [16]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Narnia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27788422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlways_and_forever/pseuds/owlways_and_forever
Summary: Peter passes through the wardrobe and meets the Kings and Queens of Narnia
Series: When Eagles Fall Silent [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2029726





	Through the Wardrobe

Peter opened the closet door, and was surprised when he was greeted with a slight chill in the air. It was as if a draught was coming from the back of the wardrobe, but that couldn’t be, it made no sense. He rifled around among the coats, searching for his big puffer coat. A gust of cool air drifted out, and a few stray snowflakes landed on Peter’s nose like a dusting of ivory freckles, taking him by surprise. 

“What on earth?” he mumbled to himself, and he pushed farther into the cupboard, shocked when his hands did not immediately find a back.

He kept inching forward until he emerged on the other side of the coats. He stood in a small grove of trees, well maintained, with snow coating the ground and the tree branches, and a vast array of stars peppering a velvety night sky. His first thought was that it was a vanishing cabinet, but he knew full well that this wasn’t how they worked. He could feel in his bones that this was some kind of ancient magic, deep and pure and untapped. It thrummed through his veins like a song, calling him forward, deeper into the strange new world. Peter snagged the first coat his fingers curled around - his aunt Mildred’s, as it happened - and wrapped it around his shoulders as he trudged forth, listening to the tug of the magic. 

He trudged through snow until his feet began to grow numb and his nose felt like a block of frozen ice. As the sky began to lighten with the first hints of a sunrise, Peter could begin to see the stone walls of a castle between the tree branches. Thoughts of flickering fires and hot chocolate offered some warmth and urged him on. The sun was visible over the castle walls when Peter finally reached it - aching, tired, and above all, cold. He pushed open the thick wooden door, dropping his shoulder against it in order to make it move. Inside was a pretty spring garden filled with ancient-looking, curved trees and brightly colored wildflowers.

“Hello?” a voice called out, timid but curious.

“Who’s there?” Peter gasped, stepping backward a little. He could feel his heart beating hard in his chest.

A young woman, only a few years older than Peter, stepped forward from amidst the trees, and Peter wondered how he hadn’t seen her. Her bright red gown didn’t exactly camouflage with the foliage, and the golden crown nestled atop her auburn hair glistened in the sunlight.

“It’s only me,” she said kindly. “But I don’t know who you are.”

“P-Peter,” he stammered.

“My brother’s name is Peter,” she sighed, looking over her shoulder at the castle looming behind her. She seemed oddly sad as she spoke. “King Peter."

“Your brother is the king?” Peter asked, his eyes traveling to her crown again. “So then you’re a princess?”

“No, I’m Queen Lucy the Valiant,” she replied, a little fiercer, as though she was annoyed to have been demoted by the stranger. “My brother is High King Peter the Magnificent, then my sister is Queen Susan the Gentle, then King Edmund the Just, and then me. We four rule Narnia together.”

“What’s Narnia?” Peter asked, feeling incredibly dumb.

“Narnia is where you are. Do you mean to say that you come from another land?”

“I… don’t know exactly,” he admitted. “I came through the wardrobe, and then I was in a clearing, and I walked here.”

“We came through a wardrobe once…” Queen Lucy looked over his shoulder, her eyes glazed over as she became lost in the memories of long ago. “Come with me,” she said, suddenly snapping out of her trance. “My siblings will want to meet you.”

She turned and swept along the stone path to another door, pushing it open and stepping inside. Peter followed, taking in his changing surroundings with wide eyes. They had entered into a dim stone corridor, lit by flickering torches, but soon they were traversing more ornate halls with beautiful rugs and paintings and statues. Peter felt as though his jaw was on the floor as he followed his host. Even Hogwarts wasn’t this grand. With a sudden pang, he realized that he had left his wand behind, and he began to feel panic rise in his chest. _You don’t even know if it would work here,_ he told himself. He had no idea what the rules of magic were when you crossed between realms. 

After several minutes of walking, they passed through a high archway that opened onto an enormous hall, and Peter let out an audible gasp. The hall was floor to ceiling marble with ornate gold detailing, and at the front, on top of a high dais, sat three ivory chairs with plush red cushions. The hall wasn’t full, but a few citizens were milling about, waiting to be seen. All but one of the four seats were occupied. To the far left was a man with jet black hair and a green velvet tunic. He sat up straight, rigid, and looked at those who spoke to him with an intensity that made it seem as though he were trying to read their thoughts. Next to him was a blond man in gold, his hand resting on a sword laying across his knees as he lounged in his chair. Beside him was a woman with long hair and a pale blue gown, an ivory horn slung across her chest, and a bow and quiver leaning against her leg. She looked at her subjects with kindness, but her attention quickly shifted as she saw her sister enter the hall. 

“Excuse us for a moment,” she said quietly, but with enough force to bring everything in the room to a halt. She was the kind of woman who commanded respect and obedience, not unlike Professor McGonagall. With a glance, she directed her brothers’ attention to the two newcomers, and then all three stood and made their way to a room at the side of the hall. Queen Lucy followed them, and Peter followed her, aware that the hall’s occupants were watching him with curiosity.

“Who’s our guest, Luce?” the blond brother asked with amused curiosity.

“This is Peter, and he says he came through a wardrobe last night,” she answered, and a hush fell through the room. The three siblings looked as though they’d been hit over the head, shocked and surprised by this information.

“I was at my Aunt Mildred’s house,” Peter began to explain, the words spewing forth. “She lives in Castleford, and we were visiting for the holidays. I was supposed to be doing my schoolwork, but I wanted to go outside instead, so I was grabbing my coat. But then it was so cold and I was curious, and there was no back to the wardrobe, and I ended up in this snowy clearing.”

“In Castleford?” the older woman - Queen Susan, he supposed - asked softly, as though she was remembering something long suppressed.

“Yes,” Peter confirmed.

“Near Leeds?” the dark haired man chimed in, exchanging a glance with his sister.

“Yes,” Peter answered, feeling confused.

“It has to be the same,” the man said, and Queen Susan nodded.

“Professor Kirke’s house,” Queen Lucy confirmed, and all four stared at Peter intensely.

“I think my aunt mentioned a Professor,” Peter said. “He was a friend of her grandmother’s, from when they were kids. They… they travelled somewhere together I think. Some big trip.”

“Do you know anything else about him?” the blond king asked, urgency in his voice. Now that Peter was close to them, he could tell that this man seemed older than the others, his crown a little taller, a little more ornate. He had to be High King Peter.

“I think he took in some kids during the War,” Peter replied, wracking his memory for any other information. “But I don’t know what happened to them.”

A thought dawned on Peter, and he remembered snippets of conversations that he had barely paid attention to. Four kids, he was pretty sure. Four kids, sent to the countryside during the Blitz so they could be safe. But then they disappeared, and no one ever found them again. And when he had first met Queen Lucy, she said they had gone through the wardrobe once. Peter had thought she meant they had left Narnia, but that wasn’t right. He just knew that wasn’t right.

“What happened?” King Edmund asked. “The war, how did it end?”

“We won,” Peter answered solemnly. “But it was pretty bad. A lot of people died. More than ever before. And there was a huge bomb, an atom bomb. Like a million times more than a regular one. It was bad.”

“How long has it been since it ended?” Queen Susan asked carefully. She sounded almost like she didn’t want to know the answer.

“About thirty years.”

“They’re probably all dead then,” King Edmund huffed, turning away from the others.

“Don’t say that!” Queen Lucy cried, admonishing her brother. She might be younger than him, but she certainly seemed to be in charge of him.

“It’s true! The Professor was already ancient and everyone else probably got bombed into dust,” he hissed back. “There’d be no point going back now.”

“Edmund’s right, we can’t go back,” King Peter said to the others, sadness casting a shadow on all of their faces. “We can’t ever go back.”

“It’s time to forget that world for good,” Queen Susan agreed. 

“I can’t stay here,” Peter said, thinking of his family waiting for him in that big country house and his friends missing him at school. “I’m sorry, but I have to go home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Houses Challenge  
> Round 4 Standard  
> Prompt: [Crossover] Chronicles of Narnia


End file.
